My first goal for studying at the Master Scientific
Illustration (MSI) is to become a professional
illustrator with a unique style, and to be a scientific
storyteller using illustrations to communicate complex
information to particular audiences or patients. I also
wish to contribute to the development and promotion
of healthcare, health science, and medical media
in my home country by applying my expertise as a
scientific illustrator to support healthcare and medical
media effectively and creatively. Within the interesting
curriculum subjects, I was especially fascinated by the
human anatomy part and the opportunity to attend
and register an actual surgery.
The MSI program offers the opportunity to develop
illustration skills both in traditional and digital
techniques under the guidance of the teachers and
to learn to share and develop ideas together with
fellow students/colleagues. The program enabled
me to improve my knowledge and skills in the field of
scientific illustration. After the first year until the final
phase of graduation, I had developed not only practical
skills but also soft skills, namely self-management,
problem-solving, and communication.
The graduation thesis is one of the most challenging
journeys during my progression in the illustration
field. In this period, I have faced challenging moments
concerning research and software use; these moments
taught me a lesson to handle the problems that arose
during the workflow and to adapt my skills to reach
the research goal.
The following chapters are the record of my
illustrational experience in the pediatric orthopedic
journey. The story about how the illustrations were
created and which approach I applied to develop a 3D
model with the aid of modeling software that I was not
confident to use before.
Another lesson that I have learned from the study was
to push myself out of the comfort zone. Never stop
to explore and try the technique, even when I am not
sure that I can do it.
This thesis aims to explore the practical approach
to visualize complex medical information in order
to serve specific purposes and to inform relevant
target audiences. I started the process to achieve my
intention by formulating the artistic research question:
“How to create a visualization, communicating
information about pediatric hip development
and treatment procedures for hip dysplasia in an
accurate, attractive, and effective way?” Moreover,
the essential aspect to be considered is the role of the
visualization, i.e. distributing information to the defined
target audiences. There will be a focus on the use of
illustrations and on the feedback from the users in the
further development.
This project is created for two groups of audiences:
the orthopedist in training and the patient’s parents.
The visualization will be used by professional doctors
to instruct their trainee or colleague and to explain
the medical situation to the patient’s families. The
viewpoint of the illustrations will be split into two
storylines because of the different needs of the two
audiences.
1. The visualization of pediatric hip development will
be developed for the orthopedist in training and the
specialists. The execution of this topic will depict the
actual anatomical structures of the pediatric hip as
realistic as possible to prepare the doctor in training
for the real treatment situation.
2. The illustrations of the surgical procedures will be
created mainly to explain the treatment to the patient
parents. The illustrations for this part will be simplified
and adjusted to be understandable and delightful for
a general public that is not familiar with the actual
surgical procedures.